


Christmas At The Boomer's

by CassiusCade



Series: A HLVRAI Christmas Story [2]
Category: Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Anal Sex, Black Mesa Sweet Voice, Christmas, Christmas Presents, Christmas activities, Dirty Talk, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Mistletoe, No beta we die like mne, Riding, Snowball Fight, They/Themrey, baking cookies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:27:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29207355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassiusCade/pseuds/CassiusCade
Summary: Benrey and Gordon arrive safely at The Boomer's place. Gordon freaks out a bit over what happened in the car, but his overthinking is repeatedly interrupted with cute Christmas activities with the science team.
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman
Series: A HLVRAI Christmas Story [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2144406
Comments: 4
Kudos: 68





	Christmas At The Boomer's

**Author's Note:**

> What do you mean it's not December anymore? Idk what you're talking about? For real tho I've been busy with packing my house and moving cross country the past couple months so this got done a lot later than I wanted it to. Good news is I've got some other stories on the way too :3

The kitchen's light is glaringly bright in the early hours of the morning when they arrive at the Boomer’s place. The two rescuees just kinda bear with it as they wait at the kitchen table while arrangements were being set up.

Warmth radiates from novelty mugs filled with hot cocoa, seeping through their hands and warming their stomachs, driving out the chill that had settled deep within their bones while they were stranded earlier.

Gordon took his time to savor it, holding it tightly between his hands, twisting it occasionally to swirl the drink and watching the mini marshmallows slowly dissipate as the heat soothes his nerves.

Benrey had gulped it down as soon as they’d gotten it, scalding temperatures be damned, apparently. When they moved their mug from their mouth to rest it on the table, a mustache of chocolate was left behind. 

Gordon felt guilty about not helping out as their friends zipped about getting things situated, but Tommy had insisted they rest and not worry about it, and it’s kinda hard to argue with Tommy when he’s being firm.

Not everyone had left them on their lonesome though. Sunkist happily trotted in to rest their head on Benrey’s now open lap, and they complied in giving him many pets, much to his delight. What a cute scene they made, it had Gordon smiling without even realizing.

Tommy comes in finally, dusting his hands off and resting them on his hips. 

“Alright uh, I moved all my stuff out of the guest room so- so you guys can have it,” he yawns in between sentences, “I’ll take the couch.”

All of them were feeling the tired weight of the early morning but Gordon still somehow found the brainpower to object.

“Woah-wait, why am I sharing a bed with _Benrey_?”

Tommy shrugged, “There’s only one guest bedroom Mr. Freeman, besides you seemed fine sharing a space with him in your car.”

That was true, he guessed. If he wasn’t so desperate to get some shuteye he’d probably argue harder against this, but the only thought occupying his head at the moment was the idea of a warm bed. 

Dr. Coomer came in next, interrupting everyone’s train of thought. 

“Alright fellas, all your things have been brought inside. I do suggest we all get to sleep now so we’ll be ready for tomorrow!”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Gordon yawned, getting up to place his now empty mug in the sink, “Thanks for everything you guys have done, tonight has been a crazy night.”

A reassuring hand rests on his shoulder, and he looks up to meet the gaze of a smiling Tommy.

“Don’t- don’t worry about it Mr. Freeman! We’re just glad you guys are ok.” 

He returns his smile and follows them out of the kitchen as Dr. Coomer starts turning off lights.

“Goodnight Tommy! Goodnight Gordon and Benrey!”

Walking into the small guest room he finds Benrey already under the covers, arms behind their head with a blank expression as they glance over at him. He sighs and turns off the light. 

Moonlight filters in through the blinds on the window next to the bed. The streaks hit Benrey in a way that makes their skin a luminous blue shade in a rather unhuman way; it was kinda pretty…

When he meets their eyes they’ve almost a dim glow to them, almost hypnotic like, but he mentally shakes his head to disperse any related thoughts as he grabs an edge of the blanket, sitting on the mattress and holding Benrey’s stare with his own chiding one. 

“Ok listen, no need to make this awkward. Let’s just face opposite walls and get this night over with, capiche?” 

Perhaps too tired for any annoying comebacks they simply shrug, and the two settle in with the agreed upon arrangement. It’s a comfy queen size bed, big enough for a bit of space between them, which Gordon’s thankful for. 

The room was quiet. He felt time slow down and his thoughts flood in. There was so much about today that he had put off thinking about, and if he’d let them they could consume his brain and make it impossible to sleep.

Instead he pushes all thoughts aside, listening in on his surroundings. Most noticeable is the soft rhythmic breathing of the being beside him. They must have fallen asleep as soon as they turned over, and he doesn’t blame them. The sound was soothing in a way, and Gordon drifted off to sleep after a final thought of ‘thank god Benrey doesn’t snore’.

When Gordon opened his eyes the next morning he contemplated why his view of the room differed so much from the one he saw when he was falling asleep. Particularly confuddling was why this view was so much _lower_ , and why the mattress wasn’t as comfy as it had been, and why he felt so cold even though the blanket was so plush- wait a fucking second. 

He sat up swiftly and confirmed that yes, he was in fact on the _floor_. Are you kidding- his head swivels to inspect the bed, now at eye height. Benrey laid sprawled out across the entirety of the bed, limbs at odd angles, pillows, blanket, and bedspread shoved around amounting to a mess, and drool cascading down their open mouth grossly. 

Without a word he grabs one of the pillows that had slid off the bed with him, promptly swinging it at the sleeping figure with a hard _thwack_. 

Their head lifts up a moment after, expression muddling with an audible _whuh_? 

“Did you seriously push me off the bed asshole?! Who knows how long I’ve been on the floor, my back is probably gonna be all fucked up today!”

With a smack of their lips, Benrey sits up, taking a moment to rub the sleep from his eyes before looking down at Gordon.

“Din’t do it on purpose. Not my fault your old man bod sucks.”

“Wh- I’m not even thirty yet!”

The opening of their door cuts into their argument, with Dr. Coomer poking his head in donning a cheery smile.

“Ah good, you’re both awake! Why don’t you two get ready and meet us in the kitchen, Bubby’s almost done with his famous scrambled eggs!”

He disappeared, leaving the two sitting in silence, sharing a look with each other.

“I didn’t… I didn’t even know Bubby cooked.”

Surprisingly breakfast was, in fact, delicious. No scorch marks or crisp edges, though Bubby had snapped at him for expecting otherwise. Tommy was already sitting at the dining room table when he’d come in, and so now he found himself sat between him and Benrey, with Sunkist laying under the table by his feet in silent anticipation. Unfortunately for Sunkist Gordon wasn’t going to let a bite of this go to waste. 

Honestly it was one of the nicer breakfasts Gordon has had, and after finishing he volunteered to do the clean up. It was the least he could do as thanks, and it also gave him a moment to himself.

Benrey must have gotten bored messing around with the gang in the living room, cause they came to lean against the doorway just as Gordon was finishing up drying the plates. They were silent, watching him open cabinets to put dishes away neatly and rinse out the sink.

“What’cha need Benrey.” he asks, humoring them as he finishes up the chore by drying his hands.

“nothin. can’t a bud just stand around without it bein a crime?”

Gordon rolled his eyes and turned around intent on joining the crowd in the living room but promptly froze in place. There was Benrey, bored and seemingly unaware expression and all, taking up the entire doorway in no doubt an attempt at irritating him. And yet, right above them hung a bundle of stems hosting leaves and small berries, tied together with a nice red bow. His cheeks were flushed at the realization, he could tell. With such an obnoxious poker face it was impossible for him to tell whether or not Benrey was aware enough of human traditions to understand the situation they have created. Regardless, he began to stutter out objections.

“ Du-dude, could you move? I’m tryin to get through here.”

They don't even blink.

“so? I’m not stoppin you.”

“Yes you are? You are literally in my way.”

With an eye roll they turn to their side so that their back now hit the door frame instead of their shoulder, creating a space just big enough for Gordon to slip past. 

“No- man you’re still in my way, just move to the side. It’s not that hard.”

“what's got you so bugged out, just walk on by.”

The tiniest crack through their facade shows a sign of curiosity towards Gordon. They follow his fleeting glance up to the mistletoe but it doesn’t seem to answer anything for them.

“yooooo what’s this little thing? you guys hiding snacks around here? why you so scared of a lil plant bro?”

His face burns when they notice it and reach out to inspect. Before they could disturb it though, Dr. Coomer pops up from behind to halt them.

“Not a snack Benrey, this is mistletoe! Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a-”

Gordon turns around and bolts before the situation could get any worse. There was thankfully another doorway he hadn’t noticed before that led to the hallway, where he took the turn leading to the bedrooms. 

The others also joined near the mistletoe, intrigued by the commotion and Dr. Coomer’s impromptu botany lesson. Benrey stepped into the kitchen to get a better look at the plant.

“seriously tho, why was gordo so bent out of shape over this thing?”

Tommy stepped around Dr. Coomer in his attempt to answer, “I think- I- I believe it’s probably because it’s purpose as a decoration is for people to kiss underneath it. I guess Mr. Freeman isn’t the most comfortable with physical affection.”

Besides a deadpan ‘oh’, Benrey doesn’t give much of a reaction. After a few long, still moments of them assumably processing this new information, they turn their head to look at Tommy.

“hey you’re standing under it now, ‘s that mean i gotta kiss ya? little kissaroo for my homies?”

“Well, those are the rules!” Tommy giggles, and leans down closer to Benrey’s level while they lean up enough to leave a kiss on his cheek.

“nice.”

_Was that an overreaction?_ Gordon thought to himself while pacing the length of their room. I mean, technically they’ve already fucked, so kissing shouldn’t be that big of a deal, right? Uh, no. Kissing is way more intimate, and what they did together wasn’t anything more than a one time fling to stay warm, right? Did he want it to be more than a one time fling? 

He slaps the side of his face. God, what was he thinking? This is Benrey we’re talking about, why would he ever want it to be more than a one time fling?? But… He shakes his head to clear out all the swirling thoughts, and reaches for his phone. He did come in here for an actual purpose; he can panic _after_ he gets his responsibilities dealt with.

The phone dials while he stands out on the back patio. Snowfall had been heavy; it looked to be nearly two feet of snow all across the yard, and all the bleak sunlight did to it was make it shimmer. He admired how pretty it looked, all smooth and untouched, until his thoughts were interrupted by someone on the other end picking up the call.

Getting his van towed and fixed cost a hefty price, but at least it’d be ready to go by the time they’d need to head home. The phone call was short, but he decided to stay out longer to get his thoughts straight. He slipped on a pair of gloves he had in his pocket and blew hot air through them, rubbing his hands together to keep warm.

He’d put off contemplating last night as much as he could cause he knew it’d be a huge mess to unpack. There’d been no mention of it between the two of them so far. What does this sort of thing do to your relationship with someone? God, it’s not like he’s ever been in this situation before. 

Is it something they’ll do again? _How_ could he even consider that given their history? They’d tried to _kill_ him not too long ago… and yeah, they’ve apologized and have tried to make it up to him and they have been getting along a lot better lately, ect. ect. But that’s not something you just forget about! 

How could he be in any sort of intimate relationship with a being that could be so… scary. Hell he _still_ has nightmares about what happened on Xen sometimes. This guy is some kinda powerful eldritch alien thing, he could go on and on. All of that, and not even mentioning how annoying they can be-

His train of thought was utterly derailed with a shove that sent him flying into the snow mound in front of him. He hadn’t even registered a squeak of the door opening behind him, thanks brain. 

Snow scattered everywhere as he sat up and shook his head. Looking for his assailant he found Benrey with Tommy stifling a laugh by their side. Both were decked out in their winter gear.

“whatcha hidin out here for feetman? tryin to uuuuuuhhhh steal stuff? not on my watch.”

“Did you just- are you serious right now?”

“yeah? why, lil chicken can’t handle the cold? lil noob gonna run back to the warm house like a baby? gonna-”

Whatever they were going to say was cut short with a fat snowball to the face.

“Yeah, how's that taste bastard? Not so smug now huh!” Gordon shouts, a wide grin plastered on his face.

Tommy erupts into giggles as Benrey sporadically wipes the snow from their face.

“ooooohhh feetman thinks he’s all tough huh? think you can take me on when i’ve got tommy on my side too?”

Before Gordon could retort, an armful of snow crashes down on Benrey as Tommy surprise dunks on them from behind. The look of betrayal on their face is priceless, and had the two cracking up twofold.

“Sorry Benrey, um, but I never said I’d be on your team though.”

Thus began a three way snowball fight in the Boomer’s back yard. 15 minutes in and Gordon found himself sat back against a swiftly made snow barrier, packing up as much ammo from the surrounding snow as he could.

Two other identical barriers stood throughout the yard; behind one was Benrey, but which, he didn’t know. Last he saw Tommy he was taking refuge behind the lone tree.

One would think it’d be a struggle against two op aliens, but he’s surprisingly had them on the run; pretty consistently holding the upper hand since the beginning. Perhaps it was due to experience? Doubt that Benrey’s had much experience with snow, and Tommy’s background is a bit of a mystery… Meanwhile Gordon’s been doing this ever since he could remember, with his cousins, his friends, and then with Joshua. 

Tommy’s basically pinned in his position, now he just has to draw Benrey out of their hiding place to make his attack. Digging through the snow until ground was visible, he stopped once he found what he was looking for.

A soft thud hits near the far two barriers, and out from behind the left one moves Benrey, snowball in hand, moving in for the attack on what he finds to have been a rock. Acting fast, he vaults over the one he was behind, catching them off guard with a barrage of snowballs. One or two managed to hit, but Benrey was unnaturally fast. In half a second they took refuge behind the third snow wall and Gordon moved behind the one Benrey was just at. He chuckled to himself; outmatching Benrey like this was so satisfying. 

Intently watching Benrey’s spot for an opening, he didn’t even notice the movement approaching from his peripheral vision until it was too late. Whipping his head around, there stood Benrey, six snowballs in six morphed arms with one shit eating smirk. 

“gonna run?”

He was indeed. Taking off at full speed he still couldn’t escape getting pelted with three out of the six. Benrey made sure there was no room to slow down or take refuge. Of _course_ they couldn’t play fair for long, asshole. Can’t hide, can’t outrun, his only option was to outmaneuver them. 

After dodging some incoming projectiles he took a sudden 180 turn, moving in just the right way with his leg out to trip them as they barrel past. There's no hope in going back into hiding... going on the offense it is then. 

Giving them no recovery time after face planting into a pile of snow, Gordon was on top of them in a struggle. Benrey only managed to twist over onto their back before he had all three pairs of arms pinned under his kneeling legs, effectively straddling their chest now. He laughed in defiant triumph, voice breathy from the exertion. 

“not fair bro…”

“Says the guy who sprouted four extra arms??” he objected.

Talk about unfair. If they really wanted to they could _throw_ Gordon off themself… actually why weren’t they doing that? Looking down, Benreys eyes were huge and trained square on him. A dusting of blue sat upon their cheeks that he tried hard not to register, and their mouth parted just slightly as if the sight before them was something breathtaking. 

Gordon did _not_ want to deal with these feelings right now. Benrey started this whole thing and acting cute wasn’t going to get them out of it. As he shifted and ran his hand down to the edge of Benrey’s shirt, they took a small, sharp intake of breath, completely missing his other hand digging into the snow beside them and coming up with a handful that promptly was shoved under their shirt. 

A slew of curses rang out 

“i give- fuck! i give!.. what the hell’s wrong with you dude?”

Gordon’s cackle was infectious enough to get Benrey chuckling along too. With their surrender called he allowed them to sit up, shifting to get off of them and helping to brush some snow off.

The moment was almost tender. Almost. The two had made one fatal mistake, and that was forgetting the existence of the game's third player. 

Above them rained down about four buckets worth of snow, effectively burying them both. Into their line of sight stepped Tommy, looking awfully pleased with himself.

“Did you stop time to make a fucking power move???” Gordon exclaimed while wiggling out of the snow mound.

“Guess that means I win, hm?”

Extending his arm after getting to his feet, he pulls Benrey up with him, Tommy helping clear some of the snow from their coats. 

“Next time we do this there’s going to be a ‘no use of powers’ rule” he mutters.

The back door opens as Dr. Coomer steps out. 

“Now Gordon, there’s no need to be a sore loser. Why don’t you boys clean up inside so we can start on other holiday activities!”

“yeah Gordon loserman”

“You lost too!” He argued as they made their way inside.

Tommy had come out mostly unscathed, but Gordon was in need of a new, dry pair of pants and Benrey was utterly soaked. A warm shower sounded perfect right about now, but he went ahead and let Benrey go first since they needed cleaning up the most.

He waited patiently after declining their flirtatious offer for him to join in. Listening to the muffled rhythmic beating of the water from the next room over, he gathered up a change of clothes, mind wandering to how Benrey had looked pinned beneath him. He hated to admit it but... he really did find it cute. There was something a bit intoxicating to his sense of pride about holding down an alien apex predator, (even if they were only _letting_ him chimed a voice somewhere in the back of his mind).

After obtaining a towel from Bubby and stripping down in the now open bathroom, it wasn’t until he was actually in the shower, hot water running over his face, that his anxieties decided to creep back in. 

Was he really letting his mind just run with thinking fondly about Benrey? That’s never really happened before. He can’t seriously have a thing for them when they’re so… well, Benrey! 

Did he forget so easily how fucking dedicated they were to making his life hell in Black Mesa? About all the times that _he_ has tried to kill them (and the one time he did)? He’s never met someone who drives him up a wall quite as much as them. And it might not be as intense as it was, but they certainly haven’t stopped! 

Yeah, he must be out of his mind if getting some dick one time has him thinking he’s got feelings for the guy who’s a walking, talking cringe compilation. Even if some of the shit that comes outta their mouth has him splitting his sides laughing, nope: gonna put all these thoughts in a box again, bury that box somewhere deep in his subconscious and wait for it to disappear. Yeah.

After drying off and getting into warm, not soaked in snow clothes, he walks out to the living room. When he fails to find anyone he meanders over to the kitchen to find everyone in some way attempting to bake some Christmas themed sugar cookies. 

“Hey, how’s the baking going?” He greets, resting a hand on Tommy’s chair.

Benrey and Tommy sat at the table with Benrey doing a questionable job at cutting out shapes from the dough and Tommy carefully icing the cookies that had come out of the oven. 

Bubby seemed in charge of putting them in and taking them out while Dr. Coomer danced about the room to the Christmas background music, stirring the bowl in hand. 

“Ah, hello Gordon! You’re just in time to partake in the baking of sugar cookies with us!”

Beneath him, Tommy spoke up tentatively, “Actually, all the needed positions seemed to have been filled already… um, unless you’d want to help Benrey?”

They smacked their lips.

“Nah, don’t need any help, ‘m fuckin nailing it this time.”

Tommy nodded, putting on a fake smile.

“Sssssssssure are,” he says, watching as they move a rather mangled looking snowman cookie to the baking tray before looking back at Gordon, “they were originally on icing duty but we… decided they might be better suited for a different position.”

Gordon glanced at the set aside plate holding what looked like a cookie massacre with how much red was everywhere and rolled his eyes, because of course.

“That’s ok, I’ll just watch.” He says, sitting down next to Benrey.

“Probably for the best, I don’t have much faith in Gordon’s cooking abilities anyway.” Bubby states.

“Hey you haven’t even tried any of my food, have you seen the pie I brought?” He retorts.

“You mean the store bought one in the fridge?” Bubby responds, eyebrow raised.

“Ok… fair point… I’m still not that bad though.” 

“Most good scientists have proof to back up their claims, Gordon.” chirps Dr. Coomer.

“Well, you got me there.” He says, turning to watch the work happening at the table.

Their system was surprisingly efficient, well, for the science team that is. Bubby would scrape off the finished cookies onto a cooling rack, and after a couple minutes Coomer would bring the rack to Tommy to decorate. The cooled empty baking sheet would be brought over to Benrey along with the dough where they would then, um, try their best. Or, more likely, making the candy cane, snowman, and Christmas tree shapes look as shitty as possible as a joke with how pleased with themself they were looking.

Well, actually... this was their first Christmas. Hell, probably their first time ever baking cookies. Maybe all they needed was a bit of guidance.

Without thinking his hand reaches out until it touches theirs. They stop with a spareing glance, waiting to see what he does next. 

A bit of heat touches his cheeks when they lock eyes, but he disregards it. Instead he stands to get a better angle, hands trailing to cover Benrey’s hands, holding the tiny tree shaped cutter. 

“Here, the trick is to be more gentle with it. Just…”

He guides their hands through the process, Benrey quietly allowing him to. The final product turns out looking pretty fuckin good. 

After a proper demonstration, Benrey starts producing decent looking cookies onto the tray, or maybe they just suddenly decide to start taking it seriously. Gordon could never tell. 

Whichever it was honestly surprised him though. Benrey actually behaving? It’s more likely than you think.

They end up finishing rather quickly. Bubby shoos them out of the kitchen soon afterwards so he could get dinner ready.

They wait in the living room. Benrey plops down next to Gordon on the couch, and the four of them talk about whatever comes to mind. Reminessance of Black Mesa, current events, the future, y’know, the likes.

Dinner, as Gordon has come to expect, is delicious. The sweet potato pie is a bit burnt but besides that, everything was impressive. He’d always thought Coomer would have been the one out of the two who did the cooking. 

When he asked as much, he learned it’d been an argument that evolved into a challenge that’d spurred Bubby to learn this new hobby. With everything done and set up Coomer passed Bubby some cash, probably paying up for some bet. 

It’s nice, eating dinner with people he cares about over the holiday. He’s had plenty of Christmas Eve’s sitting at home eating a turkey sandwich by himself. If Black Mesa is what it took for him to gain such good friends, then maybe it was all worth going through. And you know what? Yeah, that does include Benrey.

He’s man enough to admit that he does actually really enjoy being around them. They’re funny, and a good player 2. They challenge him in ways nobody else has and- crap he really did catch feelings didn’t he?

The realization sparks up his nerves again. Excusing himself from the table to put away his plate after he’d finished, he stuck around in the kitchen to sift through his thoughts. 

God, genuine feelings for Benrey. Did they even feel the same way? Yeah he knew they’d had a “thing” for him in the past but what if it was just something physical, and after trying it out once they were done with him? What if their feelings weren’t romantic at all and Gordon was left looking like an idiot?

He gripped the edge of the sink, he knew he was having an anxiety attack but no idea how to stop it. His thoughts snowballed.

How could he be so stupid-

Someone walks in. He doesn’t look up and keeps his grip on the sink.

“you uuuuuhhhhh gonna cut the pie yet? we want the pumpkin.”

“You can cut it if you want.”

“k”

He can hear the opening and closing of the fridge, and looks up to watch as Benrey sets the pie down on the counter next to him. He watches as they pull out a drawer to grab a knife, inserting it into the pie and…

“What… what the fuck are you doing…”

“told you, gettin some pie.” He retorts, plopping down a wonky square piece of pie onto his plate, straight from the middle. 

It’s one of the dumbest things he’s ever seen, but for some reason it gets him laughing.

“That’s- that’s not how you cut it you piece of shit! Other people gotta work around this bullshit now to get a piece!”

“bro you _told_ me to cut it, shoulda done it yourself if you wanted it done your way.” They’re deadpanned but it’s still readable that they totally did that with intent. 

It’s a bit obvious, but Gordon’s never really stopped to think about it before. All their annoying antics are done on purpose to get a rise out of him, in a way most comparable to pulling on one’s crush’s pigtails in the school yard. He knew there was intent behind the dumb flirting, he knew they had some weird almost fixation on him, was it really just them having feelings for him this entire time?

Benrey took their plate and walked over to stand against the doorway again, right under the mistletoe, looking at Gordon daringly as they ate their pie.

No, they very much _did_ like Gordon in the same way. It was obvious now. He felt his worries dissipate like tiny marshmallows in the hot chocolaty pool of reassurance and confidence. 

He decided to take them up on that dare. Walking over to where they stood he glanced up at the mistletoe hung above both their heads before leaning in and talking softly.

“Is there something you want from me?”

“huh?”

“Yeah, I know you know the implications of standing in this spot.”

They look up at the mistletoe and feign surprise.

“oooohhh shit how’d we end up like this, haha? rules are rules tho, u gonna chicken out again?”

“I guess it would be mean of me to leave you hanging a second time.”

Their lips connected in a chaste, but sweet kiss that lasted longer than anything considered platonic. Soft and romantic, he laid out his feelings through the kiss, pulling away to leave for the living room without waiting for the chance to find out their response.

Benrey stood there for several moments, simply processing what just happened and if it was actually real. 

The others stood by the lit fireplace talking amongst themselves, Dr. Coomer lighting up upon Gordon’s entrance. 

“Ah, Gordon! We’re about to leave to look at a lovely light display in town, would you care to join us?”

“I think I’ll skip, I’m pretty tired after everything.” He says, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“We’ll miss you dearly. What about you Benrey?”

They answer with a shake of their head no.

“Wait, driving through light displays is a pretty fun Christmas experience, especially if you’ve never gone before. You really don’t want to go?” Gordon asks, confused.

They shrug.

Tommy speaks up, “Well, they did have a hard night last night too, we don’t want to push you guys too far.”

That’s true, he hadn’t really thought Benrey would be affected by it too much, he never seemed to sleep back at Black Mesa.

“We’ll be back soon.” Coomer says as they turn to leave.

Gordon walks out with them to chat just a bit longer. After waving goodbye as their car pulls out of the driveway he returns to the living room, rubbing at his arms because of the cold outside.

He found Benrey sitting down in front of the fireplace, watching the flames dance about. Without a word he sat down next to them, joining in on the observation of the flames. They hadn’t really talked about everything, and he figured now would be as good as ever. 

He glanced over, watching their eyes trained on the fire before lightly bumping his shoulder against theirs.

“So, am I a pretty good kisser or what?”

They kept their face unreadable but glanced to the side. 

“hmmm nah, kinda sucked. “

He shrugged, “alright, we don’t have to do it again then if that’s how you feel.”

Their big eyes were on him now.

“ _again?_ there was gonna be more?”

“Doesn’t really matter if you didn’t like it, now does it?” 

“woah woah hey, never said I didn’ like it, just think we should uh, practice more. ” 

“Oh really? If you want more you should just ask outright.” he teases.

Benrey’s words seem to catch in their throat, a hint of, what, nervousness? -as they avert their face back to looking at the fire. Gordon follows suit, changing the subject after a pause.

“Today was really nice. Probably going down as one of my favorite christmas’s, just spending time with you guys. Y’know?”

They stayed silent, with a look of deep thought on their face.

“...yeah.”

“I imagine they didn’t have anything like christmas back on Xen, huh?”

“nah.”

He smiles warmly at them, head tilted and held up by his hand.

“So? What do you think of your first proper christmas?”

“ ’s not done yet. still got presents tomorrow.”

“I meant so far.”

“...it’s uh… it’s... nice.”

“Yeah? I’m happy to hear that.” he says, gazing back into the fire, “I’m happy you’re here to experience this with us, even after that rocky start with the whole stranded in a van thing.”

There’s a beat of silence, Benrey grips their knee a bit harder.

“Y’know, neither of us have said anything about it so far, and I- I kinda think it’s something we should talk about-”

“can i kiss you...?” they interrupt suddenly.

He falters mid sentence, he really wished he could know what they were thinking sometimes. He smiles, giving gracious consent. Benrey is quick to close the distance between them, kissing him as though they were starving. He laughs a bit, turning his head to get at a better angle. They lean into him quickly, practically crawling onto his lap to the point where he rests his hands on their hips just to keep them steady, rubbing circles into their soft skin with his thumbs. 

There’s a faint vibrating sound, and Gordon realizes that Benrey is _purring._ He’s never heard them do that before, and he decides he wants to hear as much from them as possible. He moves one of his hands from its position on their waist to reach up and thread his hands through their coarse hair, bringing it down to cup their face, softly stroking their cheek. 

Their kiss grew deep and exploratory. He was careful with his tongue to avoid the points of their sharp teeth. Their arms had found their way around his neck and currently busied themselves with undoing Gordon’s ponytail. They toyed with his curly locks, combing their fingers through lovingly and idly twirling strands around.

Both wanted more from the other, Benrey growing especially excited as they rut their growing erection against his thigh. The growing tent in his pants was obvious as well as things escalated, but his working brain cells were unsure if he should let this go all the way.

As much as he hated to, he broke the kiss, “Wait, we can't really do this here right?”

Benrey grunts in frustration, “why not? no ones here bro, c’moooooon y’know ya want to…” they croon as they grind down on his lap to make a point.

His dick agreed that they made a very convincing argument. Well, fuck it. They had time.

He gently pushes them off his lap and stands up.

“Well, let's go to the bedroom then, I am _not_ doing it out here.”

Benrey trails down the hallway after him like an excited puppy, hands trailing over skin and teeth nipping at his ear.

“gonna put on a show for me?” they whisper in his ear as they slink around him, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. They’re slightly disappointed when the frame fails to make a single squeak, and Gordon snorts, moving in close before grabbing the bottom of his shirt to pull it over his head. 

He’s never stripped for someone else’s entertainment before, and he knew he wasn’t great, but Benrey seems to be enjoying it all the same, eyes never once blinking. Once the shirt is discarded he edges at the button of his pants, taking his time with it as he slides it down along with his underwear which soon joins his shirt in a heap on the floor.

Benrey whistles, taking in his image through hooded eyes, “sorry I don’t uh, got any cash on me.”

“Shut up.” he laughs as he pushes Benrey back onto the bed before commanding “Take your clothes off.”

“yesss _sir_ ” they practically purr, immediately shimmying off their clothes as fast as possible.

He appreciates the eagerness, watching with a smirk before climbing on to straddle their waist. Hands brush lightly across their skin, exploring what he couldn’t the previous night. He feels the rise and fall of their chest, the beat of their heart picking up pace, and when he looks up he sees the same look Benrey was giving him in the snow earlier that day.

He chuckles a bit, starting to feel a little self conscious, “What’s that look for bud?”

“whuh?” 

“C’mon, your face looks like you’re seeing something, I don’t know, amazing?”

“cause i _am_ bro.” they say while reaching up to stroke along his hips.

Maybe it shouldn’t come as such a shock, but to be fair he’d never had a partner react to him in such a way. ‘Painfully average looking middle aged guy’ was a generous description. His face was heating up an embarrassing amount.

“Hah… you’re so full of shit man.”

“you kidding? you know how long i’ve been wanting this? since day numero uno.”

“You literally fucked me last night.”

“yeah but i didn’t get to see you like _this._ you look fuckin- poggers man.” they accentuate the ending with a squeeze of gordon’s ass cheeks, grinning at the little noise he made, “so hot, better than what i was imagining.”

The sound of his racing heart beat is starting to drown out his mind, and the position he was in made it hard to hide just how flustered he was getting, which Benrey was clearly enjoying. Man, their smug face was irritating, he had to find a way to switch this back around on them.

“Yeah? You fantasised about me? Care to uh, share with the class?”

Their mouth opens as if to speak, but instead rust colored sweetvoice spills out, and they’re left just as flustered as he is, stuttering out “uuuuuuuuuuhhh...”

“What, nothing to say for once?” his hand traces up to tweak at one of their nipples, “C’mon, what did you think about?”

“i- aH… i thought about, uh… y-you…”

“Don’t hold back now.” he says while continuing to pinch at their nipple, giving it a flick before rolling it between his thumb and forefinger. They seemed to be _very_ sensitive. 

“thought about… sucking you off. just no clippin through your suIT- hah… replacing that stupid machine, ‘n makin you cum all you stress away…”

“Awww were you jealous of the _suit?_ That’s kinda hilarious. Keep talking.” he snickers, leaning down to mouth at their other neglected nipple while keeping up his assault on the other, grinding against their abdomen as he does absentmindedly. 

“want- wanted to take you back to one of the labs while the team slept… have some epic unboxing feetman moments before i’d bend you over one of the tables and fuck your brains out, or maybe the other way around…” they recounted, moving their hips as best they could to grind back against Gordon, leaning their head back into the pillow to keen quietly.

“Damn, didn’t know you were so desperate.” He muses against their skin, grinding getting faster in his excitement.

Benrey grins and gives a little laugh, commenting “look who’s talking.” which Gordon responds with a bite to show just how much he appreciated it.

They grunt from the pain and Gordon sits back up, admiring how red and swollen their abused nipples looked, “Hey, your behavior has been _fairly_ good today. I think I’ll ride your needy cock as a reward, how's that sound?”

“Sounds amazing, please holy fuck-” They trail off into garbled pleas, eyes training in on Gordon as he sits up to the best of his abilities, moving his hand between his legs to start prepping himself.

He starts out with one finger, slowly pushing in and out of his entrance before quickly adding another finger and speeding up. Benrey takes in the picture attentively, drool practically dripping out of their mouth as a third finger is added, thrusting into his hole.

“C-can you get your dick ready for me?”

They nod vigorously, “got a color pref?”

He slows his hand movement to give it some thought, “Lets try blue this time, don’t want to get too worked up and risk ruining these sheets.”

They oblige, coating their hand in sweet voice and reaching around to start slicking up their cock.

Gordon gasps as he brushes against his prostate, letting out little whines as he now focuses his movements there. Benrey moves the hand not currently pumping their cock to grab Gordons wrist, stopping him from fingering himself any further only to replace them with their own, dripping in more blue sweetvoice.

“fuck- look so hot gordon…”

He pants slightly as they make sure he’s nice and ready. This time the sweet voice had a kind of cool temperature to it, which felt nice in the now heated room. Again, the effect wasn’t as immediate as swallowing, but he could still feel the relaxation slowly spread through him to the point where their compliments were no longer making him feel so self conscious. He just feels… good, and happy.

Benrey takes their fingers out and Gordon moves to line up his hole with their dick.

“Sometimes I forget you're some kinda alien. I'm surprised you don't have, like, a tentacle down here or something.”

“nah i've got a rad alien dick, i’ve just been shapeshifting it for you so you didn’t freak out or anythin. wanna see it?”

He pauses, “Maybe… maybe next time.”

“oh shit, there’s gonna be a next time??”

He snorts, then lowers himself onto Benrey’s dick slowly, making them moan softly. Pausing as he bottoms out for a chance to get used to the feeling, he looks down at their face and grins.

“Depends how good you are at it.” He says, starting to move up and down.

“you know my d game is straight up epic bro.” They accentuate with a sharp roll of their hips upwards. 

He lets out a surprised yelp and they amusedly continue shallowly thrusting up into him. Gordon makes an irritated grunt and pins their hips down to the bed. 

“Remember what I said about behaving?” he asks in an annoyed tone.

He keeps his hips still as Benrey shifts around, whining at the loss of motion.

“bro, please…” 

“Use your words Ben.” he coos.

“guh... please, please move, I- I’ll be good? best boy benny?”

He gives a pleased hum and starts to move his hips again. Benrey makes no move to hide the moans spilling from his lips as Gordon fucks himself on their cock, hands gripping at the bed sheets.

“ah, ah, ah, fuck- yes.. look so good… take- taking me so well…”

He pants heavily as he starts to grind down faster, mouth lolling open as he concentrates on hitting that one spot. 

He finally hits it and his body trembles from the feeling. He works hard to hit that spot again and again unbridily whimpering with every thrust.

His legs start to tremble from the effort (the calming sweetvoice in his system not making it any easier), and Benrey must be getting close cause they grab onto his hips, thrusting up to meet his movements and making him even louder.

When it was starting to become too much to move his tired legs, Benrey had hooked their arms around his waist, flipping their position around so Gordon laid back against the mattress, legs picked up and rested over their shoulders as they continued at their previous pace. 

He moves his hand over his mouth to try and quiet himself as Benrey relentlessly pounds into him, beginning to growl low near his ear. With his other hand he reaches down to start jerking off his touch starved cock.

Annoyed at the lack of sounds from Gordon, they grab his wrist away from his mouth and pins it down next to his head. They make sure to get a little rougher to really make him scream. 

He could feel the intense heat pooling in his gut as he approached his peak, and he squeezed his eyes shut. Mixed through with his moans he cried out Benrey’s name over and over, increasingly louder until finally spilling his hot slick all over his stomach. 

Benrey fucks him through his orgasm, agonizingly close to their own after hearing Gordon moan their name and feeling his walls tighten around him.

Before Gordon could get too over-stimulated they pull out and, with a breathy whine, jerk off until they’re decorating his stomach with even more cum.

There’s a pause as they both take a moment to catch their breath. Benrey falls down in a tired heap next to Gordon, one arm still resting over his chest. The afterglow is calm and warm, nice enough that the two’s eyelids start to droop as sleep starts to over take them.

Gordon’s eyes are shut for mere seconds before a realization hits him, and he jolts up in bed.

“Holy shit dude they could get back any minute, we gotta clean up, like, _now_.”

He jumps out of bed leaving behind Benrey who just whines tiredly. 

“C’mon grab a change of clothes or something so we can hop in the shower fast.” He says, digging through his suitcase.

Benrey sits up eagerly, “we? us? showering together?”

They’re hit in the face with a towel from Gordon, who’s already in the doorway.

“Yeah, I mean… it’s the fastest solution.”

They were by his side in a second. They both quickly wash off the slick dried to their skin and the smell of sex. Benrey uses it as an opportunity to further explore his body, gingerly sudding up his stomach and chest until the dried cum is gone. As much as he would love a tender shower scene, they did have to be fast. Hoping a kiss will sate their romantic erges, he then rushes them out of the shower. 

Around the time Gordon was slipping on his pajamas and Benrey was still drying off with a towel, the front door opened. Gordon freezes, and they look at one another.

“Shit. They can’t see us both leave the bathroom or they’ll know what we did. Uuuuuuhhh... ok listen, I’ll leave first and distract them and you slip out unnoticed into the bedroom, alright?”

Benrey shrugs, not looking nearly as concerned about the predicament as he was. He turns around opening the door, hoping that equated to ‘yes’. 

Tommy and the Boomers are walking in then, sipping on the last of their hot chocolate as they put away their coats. Gordon walks in a little too eager to greet them, but they don’t think much of it. 

He tries to keep them there in the doorway while he asks about how their car ride went, all the while Benrey silently slips into the hallway with nothing but a towel on. Gordon was mostly successful with his distraction, save for the eye contact Tommy made with Benrey. Not that he didn’t have a good idea of what was going on with them anyways.

Once the coast was clear he moved with them to the living room where the fireplace was still going strong. Benrey came out to join them a second or two later, now in pajamas.

“You should- I think you would really like seeing the lights, Benrey. Come with us next year!”

“yeah?”

“Definitely! Although, we'll have to find a new display to go see. We’re not allowed back to that specific one anymore after Bubby set those fires.”

“If they didn’t want any fire they shouldn’t have decorated such flammable trees! It’s their fault really.” Bubby definitely stated with a cross of his arms.

“It was a beautiful show.” Dr. Coomer expresses lovingly, wrapping an arm around his husband.

“Well… I’m glad you guys had fun? I guess? As long as nobody got hurt.” 

“Many people were hurt Gordon. It was quite the tragedy.” Dr. Coomer informs.

Gordon yawns and rubs his face, “ Uhuh. Look guys I’m pretty exhausted after today. I think I’m gonna hit the hay.”

“Oh, ok! Goodnight Mr. Freeman!” Tommy smiles.

Benrey takes a few steps back preparing to tail after Gordon, “uuuuhh ditto.”

“Goodnight, see you bright and early Christmas morning you two!” Dr. Coomer chimes in.

After waving goodnight Benrey follows him as they walk back to their room together. It wasn’t a lie either, He really did feel like he was going to pass out the moment his head touched his pillow.

He stops Benrey before they could climb into bed.

“Ah ah, I’m not ending on the floor again tonight. This time I’m sleeping on the side against the wall.”

Benrey made no objections, and soon they were under the covers, rolled over into whatever position was most comfortable.

They should have been able to fall asleep right away, but Gordon was kept awake by unresolved issues his mind _needed_ sorted out. Normally he wouldn’t just wake up a person because of some burning questions, but from the sound of their breathing, Benrey wasn’t sleeping either.

“Hey…”

“mm?” came their quiet response.

“What… What does this make us?”

“huh?” 

“C’mon dude, we just fucked two nights in a row. We’ve kissed multiple times. I kinda think this is something that needs talking about.”

“wha’chu mean?”

“Aughh, like, is this something that’s going to happen on the regular? Are we just friends with benefits now or are we… I don’t know, something more?”

The silence from Benrey sends his nerves skyrocketing.

“...what do you want us to be?”

“I don’t… I don’t really know. This all happened really fast. I mean, yeah whatever _this_ is, it’s nice, and I’d like to continue it. Whether that’s something casual, or a real relationship, I’m ok either way.”

He wasn’t actually sure if that was true or not. His feelings for Benrey had made themselves pretty damn apparent earlier, but he just… really didn’t want this to stop.

Benrey turned over and Gordon looked at them, with their wide eyes and hopeful expression.

“seriously? you’re ok doing the boyfriend route, not clickbait?”

He snorts at their wording, “Sure bud. It sounds… it sounds really nice.”

Benrey scoots over to lay as close as he can to Gordon, snuggling up and getting comfortable.

“epic win. boyfriends get cuddle rights, no complaining.”

“Wasn’t going to.” he assures, wrapping his arms around them and closing his eyes; this time meeting little resistance from his brain.

Gordon’s first thought when he wakes up the next morning is ‘oh thank god I’m still on the mattress’. He stretches out his limbs, yawning, and realizes with his second thought that he’s got a lot more room on the mattress than when he fell asleep. Eyes opening suddenly, he finds another pair staring down at him, unblinking.

“Jesus christ Ben…” 

“oh cool you’re awake. presents time? please and thank you?”

“...yeah. Yeah, just give me a second to wake up…”

He sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as Benrey waits patiently. They must be pretty excited about this... it was pretty cute.

He doesn’t keep them waiting too long, following them out into the living room where the rest of the science team is waiting, talking amongst themselves. Bubby hands him a fresh cup of coffee and points him towards the breakfast waiting in the kitchen. 

After grabbing a bite to eat he rejoins the others by the big Christmas tree that sat near the fireplace. It wasn’t decorated with the nice, sophisticated, matching ornaments sets that some people had. Instead it was adorned with different novelty ornaments that the team had picked out, whatever caught their fancy. 

Most of them were stupid and/or gimiky. He had picked out the most normal looking ones, reindeer, santa, ect. Tommy was thrilled with the dog themed ornaments he had found. The Boomer’s had the most variety with theirs, a lot being from the places they’d travelled to, like Las Vegas. They had a lot of science themed ornaments, and, of course, some soda replica ornaments. Benrey’s seemed to have no rhyme or reason to them, a baby doll’s head, at least 3 shirtless merman dudes, eyeballs? Even so, the tree had come together as a perfect reflection of the group and made him really happy to look at.

“Sorry if I kept you guys waiting.”

“No don’t worry about it, Benrey’s the only one who couldn’t wait patiently. We had to be very clear that we wouldn’t start until you woke up, _on your own._ ” Tommy answers, shooting Benrey a look.

“Well it is their first christmas after all! I say we start handing out the presents already!” Dr. Coomer says cheerfully while digging under the tree.

Everyone settles into a seat while he hands out all the presents to their recipients. Gordon’s already sat on the couch, and Benrey ignores the open space next to him in favor of his lap. It’s not like it was something he could or even wanted to keep from the science team, but he still wasn’t quite used to this yet. His face burned red but held no protest, and he wrapped his arms around their middle. It was still a little early for him, and his head tiredly found a resting spot on their shoulder.

They each had a small pile made up of gifts from everyone else. Dr. Coomer was very pleased with his new pair of boxing gloves, and Bubby was thrilled over his new torch (courtesy of Coomer). For Tommy, a new Heaven Pegasus Beyblade and a case of Sunkist bigger than anyone should logically have were amongst his favorites that year.

Benrey and Gordon picked up their presents from each other at the same time, and Benrey shot him a grin.

“told ya i didn’t forget to bring them.”

“Yeah whatever, open your gift.” he retorts.

They open at the same time, and Gordon holds up a shirt reading “WORLD’S HOTTEST DILF” in large print across the front. There’s no way he could wear this in public. He looked up at Benrey with a raised eyebrow, only to see them grinning at the hoodie he had bought them.

“yooo this is fuckin poggers bro, i love it.” they gleamed, slipping the hoodie on over their shoulders and pulling it down so people could read the front, which had a list consisting of the options “male, female” and “gamer” on it, with the box next to gamer being checked.

“Oh! That looks great on you Benrey!” Tommy complimented, excited for his friend.

“Heh, yeah, I just- immediately thought of you when I saw it in the store so… glad you like it.” Gordon said sheepishly.

“love it,” they corrected, giving his cheek a big kiss, “second best thing i got this christmas.”

“What's the first?” he asks, a bit confused.

“a boyfriend, duh. idiot.” they laugh, flicking Gordon’s forehead.

“That’s so cheesy.” he teases, pushing their face away from his.

“so what? you’re stuck with all my cheese now, no escape. learn to deal.”

The rest of the holiday went well. Tommy ended up leaving early to spend the rest with Darnold. Gordon’s van had come back good as new... well, maybe not new. Good enough not to worry about the trip home. 

He hated that they lived so far away, they rarely had time to visit. Maybe he’d work on moving closer to the guys, who knew. He certainly had no idea what the future could hold now that his life’s taken this big turn, _again_. At least this time it seemed to be for the better.

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative gift idea for Benrey was a shirt that says "Gamers dont die, they respawn" but Gordon felt too guilty over it after, y'know, actually killing them.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
